Pretend

Jun 4th, 2009 5:35:52 pm - Subscribe
Mood: alone

I had an easy day at work. This little boy with a mohawk approached me. He was so excited when I said "Hi" to him. Every time I walked out to my cart he would yell some sort of greeting to me. His father sat in front of the room, smoking, watching his children play. Eventually the boy came upstairs and asked me my name. He waited outside the room and smiled each time he saw me. I let him sit in the room and tell me about his trip. He would run down to tell his father and brother about how great I am.

I walked downstairs for my break and the boy stopped me and asked if I would be his girlfriend. I sat down by him, lit a cigarette and told him I would love to as long as he promised to never hurt me. This did not seem like a difficult task to him. He took my hand in his and told me how pretty I was.

After I completed my rooms he followed me back to the cart room and asked me if I was leaving. I told him I was. He seemed disappointed when I told him that to be a good boyfriend he had to let me go.

"I don't want you to go. You don't have to be my girlfriend anymore, that was just pretend. I want you to be my dad's girlfriend. He's too old to pretend."

When I finished stocking my cart I walked toward the main building past the man with the cigarette, my pretend boyfriend following. He crawled onto his father's lap and said "That girl you like has to go home now, maybe we'll see her tomorrow."

I drove home to my real boyfriend and crawled into bed with him in hopes that someday his child doesn't feel responsible for his loneliness.

Such a shame for us to give up like this. So sad that we've done all we're willing to do for each other. This is the one thing I truly regret failing.

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